By Rotaract Club of the faculty of medicine, University of Colombo
With the dawn of the year 2020 came a wave of patients infected with a novel virus infection—’COVID-19’ and with it came, a government faced with the battle against time to make and execute laws and policies to minimize its spread , petrified citizens , and a fast falling economy.
And just as in any crisis , the circulation of false information has reigned its ugly head, doing more harm faster than you could imagine. And for a virus that travels at the speed of a sneeze ( 4.5 m per second ) the wrong way to wash your hands is all the misdirection needed to just about cross borders in to another country!
This is where the Rotaract Club of the faculty of medicine, University of Colombo steps in with the sole hope of being a much needed source of service, hope and direction to locals. In a nutshell, this is the fruition of 70 individuals efforts over a period of 9 months culminating in the first ever book exclusively covering COVID 19 in Sri Lanka.
And so under the Rotaract District initiative ‘Stop the Spread’, project ‘Break the Outbreak’ was implemented. This project was geared to address and remind public health measures, debunk false news and mostly raise awareness about the current pandemic and the possibility of another.
Until recently It was all hands on deck for the club as everyone had their thinking caps on conjuring the most comprehensive and creative ways of compiling A to Z about Pandemics, the virus , screening, testing , myths and facts , laws, the health care sector and its role, surveillance, the forces , the curfew – all in to one book let, so that someone someday could read it and have a snap shot of the cascade of events that lead to the SARS CoV-19 pandemic and be armed with ample facts to make wise decisions about what to do and who to believe. This booklet– the first of its kind is a proud product of research for months on end and refreshing design ethic.
Keeping to the current COVID safety guidelines, the conference and the booklet release took place as a virtual event on the 9th of May 2021 in an international conference. It was received with praise from the academic community of the faculty of medicine, university of Colombo. Within a short span of 5 days, the book had been downloaded over a 1000 times.
Dr Mrs Sudarshini Fernandopulle, State Minister of Primary Healthcare, Epidemics and Covid Disease Control in her remarks of the book stated “I believe this book is a timely one written by the Rotaract Club, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo to make the public aware of the current situation of the country and the globe”
The book is available to be downloaded on the official website of the club at https://rotaractmfc.com/download/3215/
A sinhala and tamil version will be available soon to be downloaded at the official site.